Date Night - Peso's and The Nutcracker

As a season ticket holder to the Pacific Northwest Ballet, I receive emails about their various performances and their special events. One day I saw a special come through for their annual Nutcracker performance, that I just could not pass up. So last night Joel and I found ourselves at the ballet.

We started the night by eating dinner at Peso's Kitchen and Lounge in Queen Anne. This restaurant is a very special place for Joel and I because it was here that we finally fell head over heels in love! For those of you not familiar with our story, we first met through mutual friends back when we were both students at Western Washington University. My outgoing personality was a bit too much for a very introverted Joel, so we didn't hit it off when we first met. In fact Joel said he didn't want to ever hang out with me again, I was just too much. Oops. We met again a year later when Joel had graduated from WWU and moved down to Redmond for his job with Microsoft. I was still at WWU but had traveled down to see friends race in the Saint Patrick Day 5K in Seattle; I just didn't know this group included Joel. We all decided to go out to dinner the night before race, so we gathered at Alek's apartment. When Joel walked into the room, we were smitten! We ate dinner that night at Peso's with our friends and it was the start of our wonderful journey.

You will know you're at Peso's when you see the unique entry door!

So it was very romantic to find ourselves back at Peso's on a little date night of dinner and the ballet in celebration of the Christmas season. We were served chips and salsa upon our arrival and I decided to order the rustic house made guacamole, a personal favorite. I love that Joel hates avocados, because it means I don't have to share. He doesn't mind when I order guacamole, because it means more salsa for him! I decided to treat myself to a Sage and Cucumber Margartia, sauza blue reposado infused with cucumber, cointreau and fresh squeezed lemon and lime juice and shaken with sage. It was very good; light and refreshing.

All you can eat chips and salsa

Amazing Guacamole

My Sage and Cucumber Margarita

It is hard for me to pick what to eat at Peso's as everything is so good, but I was finally able to decide on the traditional carnitas taco tradicional and Joel ordered the enchiladas with red chili sauce. Both meals were very good and we finished every bite!

My Traditional Carnitas Tacos

Joel's Red Chili Sauce Enchiladas

After finishing up our meal, we walked over to McCaw Hall where we wandered around the different displays of costumes and the gift shop before heading to our seats. We were four rows back from the stage, just to the right side. I have never been so close to a performance and was very excited for the show to start.

2012 Program Cover

The Nutcracker! I really wanted a photo with him, but Joel wouldn't do it!

The beautiful stage design!

Joel and I - ready for the show!

I always read the programs for the ballet and I'm so glad I didn't miss reading this program. I learned the stage design was done by Maurice Sendak, the author and illustrator of Where the Wild Things Are. It gave a whole new look to the stage design and I actually spied a Wild Thing in one of the scenes! As always, I loved the performance and can't wait to go again! Joel enjoyed having seats so close to the stage. So it was a perfect evening.



Christmas is nearly here!